The Castle District
The Trinity Column
Trinity Square forms the heart of Buda's Castle District. (Buda and Pest are situated on opposite sides of the Danube River and connected by a series of bridges. They were 2 distinct cities until 1873.) The square is named after the Trinity Column, a large column that was built between 1710 and 1713 to celebrate the end of the plague and in the hopes that it would protect the populace from another epidemic. The sculpture at the top represents the Holy Trinity. It sits on a pillar decorated with statues of cherubs and saints. The column rests on a large pedestal adorned with bas-reliefs and the Hungarian crest. (The Plague Column in Bratislava has the same sculpture of the Holy Trinity at the top of the column.)
Mathias Church
The most imposing building at Trinity Square is the Church of Our Lady, better known as Mathias Church. The church was originally built in the thirteenth century, so very little remains of the original--only the foundations, columns and some walls date back to the thirteenth century. The Matthias Church is one of Budapest's most important churches. The coronations of many of Hungary's kings were held here and visitors can see a replica of the coronation regalia.
Workers installing pavers adjacent to Mathias Church
Fisherman’s Bastion
The castle-like Fisherman’s Bastion is located right behind the Mathias Church in the Castle District. If you think the whole structure is more like a fancy terrace than a fortification or a castle wall, you are right. However, the Fisherman's Bastion was built at the site of an old fortification that, during the Middle Ages, was defended by the guild of fishermen who lived nearby in Watertown at the foot of the hill. Thus, the name of the bastion. Well-known for the panoramic views of the city of Budapest, it was built in 1905 as a terrace to serve as a perfect lookout point and also to enhance the beauty of the Matthias Church. It is one of the city's biggest tourist draws.
Irene and Campbell, a Scottish couple who were our ship and dinner mates on the Danube cruise. We were very lucky to have spent time with such pleasant companions.
King Stephen on Castle Hill
The central statue of the Fisherman’s Bastion is the elevated statue of King Saint Stephen. It was positioned to face the Matthias Church. King Saint Stephen was the first king of Hungary (970-1038.) He is considered to be the founder of the Hungarian state and one of the most-renowned figures in Hungarian history.
Saint Stephen of Hungary, although born a pagan, was baptized and became a Christian in the true sense. He promoted Christianity in his kingdom and tried to live according to its disciplines and tenets. He died on August 15, 1038. He was buried alongside his son, Saint Emeric, and the two were canonized together in 1083.
A look-out point of Fisherman’s Bastion
The building in the lower left with a dome and a tower on either side is Saint Stephen’s Basilica. Fifty years in the making, the Basilica of Saint Stephen is Budapest's largest church. It is dedicated to Saint Stephen, the first Christian king of Hungary. His right hand, the country's most important relic, is enshrined in one of the church's chapels.
Dominican Courtyard of the Hilton Hotel Budapest Castle Hill
The restored remains of a 13th-century Dominican cloister and monastery are incorporated into the contemporary structure of the hotel.
The monument to Dominican friars, Julian and Gerard, in the Dominican Courtyard of the Hilton
Friar Julian was a legendary character of Hungarian history. The Dominican order to which he belonged was established in Hungary in 1221 with the aim of evangelizing the East. He was one of a group of Hungarian Dominican friars who left Hungary in 1235 in order to find those Magyars who remained in the eastern homeland. He was the first Hungarian explorer of Asia as well as the one who discovered the Hungarian native soil, Magna Hungaria, far beyond the eastern borders of Europe.
The Danube Promenade
The Danube Promenade is a pleasant, century-old riverside walk. It is situated between two of Budapest's most central bridges: to the north is the famous Chain Bridge and to the south lies the more modern Elizabeth Bridge. The Elizabeth Bridge is a graceful, slender bridge named for Elisabeth, Empress of Austria and Queen consort of Hungary. The queen, who was widely admired, was murdered in 1898 in Geneva by an anarchist.
Built in the mid 19th century, The Vigadó is a magnificent concert hall situated along the Danube Promenade. The front facade is decorated with Hungarian folk motifs, crests, busts and statues of Hungarian heroes such as King Matthias and Count Széchényi, a great Hungarian statesman. Statues of muses decorate the pillars above the central arcade.
A small square links the concert building with the Danube Promenade.
The centerpiece of the square is the Children's Fountain, which shows two boys playing. The fountain was created in 1896 by the Hungarian sculptor Senyei Károly.
A view of the Danube Promenade
A closer view of The Girl and the Dog, a sculpture of a girl playing with a dog who holds a ball in his mouth. In the background is the Elizabeth Bridge, and high on the hilltop is the Liberty Monument.
The Liberty Monument is a palm-bearing statue of a female on a tall pedestal that stands about 46 feet (14 meters) in the air. Built in 1947, it paid homage to the Soviet soldiers who liberated the city from the Nazis during World War II.
The Girl and the Dog close-up
Buda Castle is the historical castle (fortified structure) and palace (not fortified) complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest and was first completed in 1265. The imposing Buda Castle overlooks the city from its position atop Castle Hill, rising almost 160 feet (48 meters) above the Danube. Its more than 1000-foot long façade (300 meters) facing the Danube is particularly impressive. Today the castle, often referred to as the Royal Palace, is home to a number of cultural institutions, including two museums: the National Gallery and the Budapest History Museum.
Posh hotels and cafes along the Promenade
The Little Princess and Buda Castle in the background
The artist was inspired by the image of his eldest daughter. She often played in the garden wearing a princess costume and a crown made out of newspaper by her father and pretended her bathrobe was a cloak.
The Little Princess
Sculpture of Hungarian artist Ignac Roskovics along the Promenade
Becky and the artist sculpture with the Chain Bridge in the background--one and the same with the picture on the easel.
Chain Bridge in the foreground
The Chain Bridge is one of Budapest's most famous landmarks. The suspension bridge was built in the 19th century across the river Danube to connect Pest with Buda, at the time, still separate cities. Previously, the nearest bridge was in Vienna, and during wintertime the only way to cross the Danube was by taking a ferry. A temporary bridge was only available in the summer: it had to be disassembled each year to protect it against ice drift. In 1849, the Chain Bridge became the first permanent span linking Buda and Pest.
The Danube Promenade ends at the statue that shows the figure of Eötvös József, a Hungarian writer who played an important role in the war for independence against the Habsburg (Austrian) Empire in 1848.
An intersection softened and beautified by flowers
The Shoes on the Danube Promenade
On the banks of the Danube River, past the Chain Bridge, sit sixty pairs of old-fashioned shoes, the type people wore in the 1940s. There are women's shoes, men's shoes and children's shoes. They sit at the edge of the water, scattered and abandoned, as though their owners had just stepped out of them and left them there. The shoes are rusted, made of iron and set into concrete along the embankment. The Chain Bridge is in the background, and Buda Castle is across the Danube.
A closer view of shoes and river boats
View across the Danube
All of the shoes are different. Some have worn-down heels, some have no laces; some are classic women's pumps, others are workmen's boots; some are standing straight up, while others have fallen over, as though they were hastily taken off.
They are a memorial and monument to the Hungarian Jews who were shot on the banks of the Danube River by members of the Arrow Cross Party, a fascist and anti-Semitic group who came to power in 1944. Shooting the Jews into the Danube was convenient because the river carried the bodies away. Often, the Arrow Cross murderers would force their Jewish victims to remove their shoes before shooting them into the Danube. Shoes were a valuable commodity during World War II, and the killers could use them, or trade them on the black market. Each of the shoes is different. All these different shoes represent the different individual Jews who were murdered on the riverbanks in 1944-1945.
People who visit the memorial sometimes light candles or leave behind flowers, placing them inside a particular shoe that touches them or reminds them of someone.
Child’s boots
Baby’s shoes with pebbles
Some people observe the ancient Jewish custom of leaving a pebble behind as a token that someone has been there to visit and to remember.
Shoes by the river
It is profoundly sad to see the abandoned shoes, knowing the cruel fate of the people who were forced to take off their shoes, stand at the edge of an icy cold river and face men with guns about to kill them.
At three separate places on the memorial,
cast iron signs read in Hungarian, English and Hebrew:
"To the memory of victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944-45."
The memorial was installed in 2005.
There is more to this story than the sign tells. Ferenc Szálasi was the Hungarian leader of a fascist, anti-Semitic political party, the Arrow Cross Party, which was completely unsuccessful at the polls. Following the German occupation of Hungary in March, 1944, Szálasi’s regime was forcibly put in place by Nazi Germany. During his brief rule, Ferenc Szálasi was responsible for the murders of 10,000–15,000 Jews. Near the end of the war, he fled to Munich, but when the war ended, Szálasi was captured by American troops and returned to Hungary. He was tried by the People’s Tribunal in Budapest and sentenced to death for war crimes, for crimes against humanity and for high treason. Szálasi was hanged on March 12, 1946, in Budapest, along with two of his former ministers.
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